Chapter 4 Part 2 of 4 (Patreon)

“I thought I heard voices?” Weebla, an older gnome yawned, pulling her comfy sweater around her. She wore fingerless gloves and her hood was worn up and over her head.

“Some new people wandered in.”

“You going to do anything but eat and watch the arena fights and combat rooms? Don’t you have other things to do?”

“A mind rested is a mind ready to deal with life’s problems.”

“Rested? You sure you do any work with your new job. You come and hide in here most of the time. Are those my noodles?”

“I made enough for two and added more to them!” Xun Liang quickly pulled out another bowl, ladling in broth and making sure to give her plenty of meat and noodles.

“Hmmphf!” The old gnome grumbled and accepted the bowl, sitting down next to him. She took the bowl and glanced at the fights.

“They’re pretty bad.” He tilted his chin at the two views.

“You sent them into the training area? Already?” She stared at him. “Where is the layabout Xun Liang and who are you?”

“Hey, I do work from time to time!”

“Pfft.”

Crazy old gnome.

“Ow!” He held his ear as she grabbed her chopsticks.

“You know what you did.”

“Damn mind reader.”

“Don’t need to read minds to know what’s going on in that empty space between your eyes. So, these two, why do they interest you.”

“Just joined the academy, don’t know anything or else they wouldn’t come here. Not Association anyway and they’re strong. That one, Mana heart, and an Iron tempered body. That one there has Earth level tempering and has opened his Five aperture heart.”

“Plenty that jump ahead in their cultivations.”

“Opened their fifteenth mana gate, tempered in all the elements up to their current stage and not only that, tempered fully.”

Weebla sat up. “Legendary resistances?”

“I’m not sure. Need to test them out. But look at them,” Xun Liang, waved his free hand “Aish, they might be strong but they’re like a child with a club, don’t know how to use it. Mana wasted all over the place, enhancing his entire body. And this one is only using three or four different spells. Reliant on range only.”

“There has to be more than their cultivations to interest you.”

“They were nice.”

Weebla raised an eyebrow.

“I’m just an attendant for a run-down training facility. Hey!” He raised a finger against Weebla’s curling fist, ready for her lightning-fast pinching attack. “Through that and just arriving, being that strong, and not from the Associations, I thought they were amicable.”

“There are nice people out there you know, Xun Liang.”

“Most of the strong people in the realm aren’t. They’ve stepped over so many to reach their current position. Death and coldness lays behind them.”

“These two have clearly fought before.”

“But…” Xun Liang let out a breath in a rush of frustration as Erik was hit with a blast of wind. “Come on, can you not see that attack? Dodge it! Ughh.”

“Seems like they need a teacher to train them.”

“Yeah, though it’ll be a lot of work to teach them out of whatever wrong habits they’ve gained. Ugh, are they blocks of stone or people? There’s no movement to them, none of the flow. At least Rugrat has movement techniques. Erik fights like a brawler. Does he even know how to fight with his fists? Just seems like he’s taking the hits.” Xun Liang scooping more noodles up and into his mouth as he looked at Weebla’s smile. “Nhmhmm”

He shook his head vehemently, chewing rapidly to try and clear his mouth, she continued on, not giving him time to respond. “These bones are too old to teach nowadays. They’ll need a good teacher.” She smiled and ate from her bowl.

Xun Liang slumped, slowing his chewing, giving her a half-hearted glare. Damn these tasty noodles! Maybe he should eat in smaller bites.

He leaned forward thinning his eyes in thought as he munched slower, watching every move Erik and Rugrat made, his eyes captured it all, eating by rote habit rather than conscious thought.

***

Xun Liang was waiting for them, standing between the teleportation formations, when they appeared in the teleportation room. Erik coughed, then groaned, picking himself up and looking over to the other sad sack in the room.

“You look how I feel,” Erik said.

“One sexy beast?” Rugrat coughed and rolled over.

“Fuuck.” Erik groaned to standing. “Wasn’t sure if that emblem was ever going to activate.”

“Tha—” Erik spotted Xun Liang as he opened his mouth.

“Eh!” Xun Liang raised a finger, stopping Erik as he looked away. “What in the hell was all that? You two have the mana and you have the elements, but damn! You could compete with the strongest in the academy with those, if you knew how to use them. Damn, you’re about near useless.”

Erik opened his mouth but Xun Liang rolled on.

“You have no or little experience in the arts of hand-to-hand fighting, but you resort to it constantly. Rugrat, ugh, going to have to clean the blood out again. You’ve taken on the role of a ranged fighter, but your spells are a mish mash. Are you trying to slow your opponent or hurt them? Why do you insist on such powerful spells when smaller ones would help you? You have fought through life and death but have little in the way of proper training, or you’ve had training in something else and haven’t developed the skills you need for the Ten Realms yet. Oh, and let us not talk about mana and element usage!”

He slapped his forehead, looking at Erik. “Using all the elements in your body all the time… Use one element at a time, understand them. They are a part of your body. Don’t just use it like, I don’t know, a club maybe, but then that has a purpose, and you’re throwing it around like fresh water in an ocean. That sounds pretty good, should record that.”

“Xun Liang,” Erik said.

“Right, training. You two, dodge!”

The teleportation formations flashed and they disappeared. He walked out back to his seat.

“You going to get the tea going?” Weebla asked, looking over her glasses. She was wearing a blanket in the office behind the reception counter that looked markedly homely.

“Ah, right, I’m on it.” Xun Liang busied himself with the tea, watching the duo from the corner of his eye. Their moves were direct, killing moves, each delivered to end instead of wound. Their actions were simple—too simple. He could read them, but they had been trained to an instinctual level.

That kind of dedication was hard to find in young students, or in those that had been ‘geniuses’ in their sects. Give me the inept ones anytime, the ones who have to fight for every inch. It wasn’t about genius, but hard work.

A smile spread, their expressions betraying the cursing and murderous intent behind their eyes.

“Might be better to tell them more than to just dodge next time, shouldn’t be long now.”

He had just sat down with his tea. Groaning he stood and walked and walked to the teleportation formations as Erik appeared and ran down the hall.

Rugrat rolled out of the teleportation, a wound running down his arm knitting together as he took off at a run as well.

Xun Liang twisted mana and element, grabbing them both and tossing him back into the center of the teleportation formation. “Dodge all the attacks you’re faced with. Don’t try to attack.”

“We’re dying out there,” Rugrat yelled.

“Oh come on, it’s only flesh wounds.” The white light of the teleportation formations cut off their curses as they were teleported back in. Xun Liang huffed, his tea floated into his hand.

“It’s cold now,” His shoulders slumped. Maybe I should put the chair and viewing formation in front of the teleports?

The chair, table and viewing formation, floated over as he sat down into the chair, the others arranging around him as he sipped his tea, watching the viewing formation.

“Oh, watch out. Gonna need a new tree now. Why are you… huh? That’s an interesting way to use air.”

Xun Liang clucked his tongue, crossing his legs as he watched.

Erik and Rugrat mixed their fighting together with dodging. The Telarri continued to come for them. As they ran, more would join the chase and the longer they took with their attacks, the more Telarri would arrive.

“Haven’t even combined yet. What are you!” Xun Liang pressed his face to his hands, exhaling loudly before pushing his hands to his eyes. “Please tell me they’re not.”

He watched longer.

“No, yup, they are. Like some damn instant fire formation.”

They teleported back, Rugrat ahead of Erik.